Only now does it occur to me... DEATH WATCH (1980)

Only now does it occur to me... that I would ever see Harvey Keitel trying to strangle Harry Dean Stanton while Max von Sydow tries to stop the violence.





The circumstances of this assault involve a sleazy television producer (Stanton) and his "camera-man" with cameras installed in his eyeballs via science-fictional contrivance (Keitel). Keitel has been tasked with filming the voyeuristic drama of woman's (Romy Schneider) excruciating death in a world where illness has otherwise almost been eradicated. Max von Sydow is the dying woman's husband.

The film––made in 1980 and directed by Bertrand Tavernier––is melancholy as hell and beautifully photographed by Pierre-William Glenn (DAY FOR NIGHT, COUP DE TORCHON). It's based on a spectacular novel called THE CONTINUOUS KATHERINE MORTENHOE (1973) by D.G. Compton which is said (and rightfully so) to have predicted the trajectory of reality television. I  recommend both works––especially the film, which feels very proto-Atom Egoyan in its assessment of an alienating mediascape.